UMMS Affiliation
Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems; UMass Metabolic Network
Publication Date
2016-10-28
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Biochemistry | Cell Biology | Cellular and Molecular Physiology | Microbiology | Molecular Biology | Structural Biology
Abstract
Monitoring the environment with serine/threonine protein kinases is critical for growth and survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a devastating human pathogen. Protein kinase B (PknB) is a transmembrane serine/threonine protein kinase that acts as an essential regulator of mycobacterial growth and division. The PknB extracellular domain (ECD) consists of four repeats homologous to penicillin-binding protein and serine/threonine kinase associated (PASTA) domains, and binds fragments of peptidoglycan. These properties suggest that PknB activity is modulated by ECD binding to peptidoglycan substructures, however, the molecular mechanisms underpinning PknB regulation remain unclear. In this study, we report structural and genetic characterization of the PknB ECD. We determined the crystal structures of overlapping ECD fragments at near atomic resolution, built a model of the full ECD, and discovered a region on the C-terminal PASTA domain that has the properties of a ligand-binding site. Hydrophobic interaction between this surface and a bound molecule of citrate was observed in a crystal structure. Our genetic analyses in M. tuberculosis showed that nonfunctional alleles were produced either by deletion of any of single PASTA domain or by mutation of individual conserved residues lining the putative ligand-binding surface of the C-terminal PASTA repeat. These results define two distinct structural features necessary for PknB signal transduction, a fully extended ECD and a conserved, membrane-distal putative ligand-binding site.
Keywords
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, PASTA domain, bacterial genetics, crystal structure, peptidoglycan, receptor protein serine/threonine kinase
Rights and Permissions
Publisher PDF posted after 12 months as allowed by the publisher's author rights policy at http://www.jbc.org/site/misc/Copyright_Permission.xhtml.
DOI of Published Version
10.1074/jbc.M116.731760
Source
J Biol Chem. 2016 Oct 28;291(44):22961-22969. Epub 2016 Sep 6. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
The Journal of biological chemistry
Related Resources
PubMed ID
27601474
Repository Citation
Prigozhin, Daniil M.; Papavinasasundaram, Kadamba; Baer, Christina E.; Murphy, Kenan C.; Moskaleva, Alisa; Chen, Tony Y.; Alber, Tom; and Sassetti, Christopher M., "Structural and Genetic Analyses of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Protein Kinase B Sensor Domain Identify a Potential Ligand-binding Site" (2016). UMass Metabolic Network Publications. 26.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/metnet_pubs/26
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